I just got back in town, and the misery that is the Philadelphia 76ers continues.
Marreese Speights, one of the only bright spots so far this season, has a partial MCL tear which will keep him out 6-8 weeks. And that doesn’t account for how he will be able to perform immediately following rehab. Terrible, terrible news for the Sixers.
This means a couple things going forward:
- Eddie Jordan will undoubtedly play smaller line-ups more often. Not a good thing.
- Jason Smith will get more minutes. Meh.
- There should be some Primoz Brezec on court sightings. Meh.
- Elton Brand should play more especially when Jordan wants an offense-focused line-up on the court. Good thing.
- The Sixers just got substantially weaker offensively as a team.
- Maybe Jordan goes with a more defensive approach. Wishful thinking.
I’ll have my “10 games in” post up later tonight or tomorrow. Sigh.
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I… I just… I just don’t know what to say or how to feel about this team. I came into the season with low expectations but I did not expect this. So who’s going to be the first to get traded?
lol it sure does suck, the sixers have a lot of salary cap space for the summer of 2011 if we can dump brand say for michael redd whos contract expires in 2011 we would have enough to sign 2 max free agents or 1 max free agent and 2 good starters not to mention redd would address one of our major concerns perimetre scoring and we could insert thad into the starting lineup.
We would also be left with the nucleus of iguodala, thad young, lou will, marresse speights and jrue holiday not to mention the 2 mid to high first round draft picks we would have. If I were gm which i’m not, but i which i was this what i would do. seriously we should really trade for redd if we could, this would be the best time to get him while his stock is down overwise brands contract is going to cripple us! the guy is like 34-35 when he comes of the books and atm he looks like he is 45
what do u reckon dannie??
Tim – The problem: why would anyone take Brand off our hands?
He hasn’t shown he can play and his contract is astronomical when considering he can’t play.
yeah i know
n0oooooo one in their right mind would take on brand, however with speights out he should see more minutes and if he can just put up like a 16-17 and 9 that might be enough to convince a dumb gm to trade for him… i hope otherwise we’re f***ed
Brezec getting minutes? Now we are screwed for sure.
Tim, I agree with the way you are thinking.
But assuming Brand remains a Sixer, they will only basically have MLE type space if they keep Smith and Thad. Maybe bump that to 7-10M if they renounce Smith’s cap hold (then they cannot sign him.) They could have even more if they also let Thad walk, but that won’t happen.
So basically no big FA signings for at least 4 more years if Brand and Iguodala stay on the team. This basically explains my lack of support for Stefanski- who has little chance of being GM through the entire length of Brand’s contract.
IMO I’d love to see all three Eds go.
I guess we will learn what Jason can do with more minutes? Dannie, did you see the game? Kapono sat at the end again when a 3 was needed.
Suede – No I didn’t watch the game. But that doesn’t surprise me. We have a completely clueless coach.
At some point Stefanski will have to say something. I mean he dealt for guys and the coach he brought in isn’t playing them. That sounds like a direct conflict to me. I’ll give it 20 games as usual before we start hearing rumors like we did when Cheeks was here.
Also, if Byron Scott can be fired only 8 games in I have to think Eddie Jordan isn’t off limits, but Stefanski wouldn’t do that because it would be yet another indictment of his blunders as a GM in his short time in Philly.
Also for those who think Stefanski will be fired any time soon I have news for you – it’ ain’t happening. What leads you to believe Snider and/or Luukko would make that move even if results are not fruitful in the first few years?
I heard on another forum that S.Hill, on his radio show, was sounding real frustrated also.He is, I would presume, in constant communication with E.S. and I wonder what Deleo, after coaching this group, thinks about the rotations,etc. .By the way, since you didn!t see it, Brand had a nice stretch early last night and seems to be showing slight improvement lately.
all hope for this organization rests on getting Brand out of here in time so we dont have to choke on his contract. heck if it takes Thad to sweeten the deal and get someone to take him, we should be willing to fall on that grenade.
i’m tired of losing but at this point winning games at the end like last year might not mean anything.
if we lose enough games, maybe we’ll see a Jrue Holiday start.
better effort against the Bulls = same result. i guess we are not a good team. well keep fighting.
Eagles dropped a real downer today. a physical and psychological barrier for the Eagles when it comes to running the ball. can you blame that all on injuries?
I don’t expect E.S. to be fired anytime soon. But I do think the team is in the type of hole that he will not survive over the medium term (2-3 years.) By the time they can dig their way out of their financial/talent problem I doubt Comcast will allow ES to be making the moves (similar to how BK was allowed to try and clear salary but was fired before he could spend the cap space in 2008.)
I guess ES could surprise us and shake things up with a Brand or Iguodala move- although that would be a challenge (and a huge risk in the case of Iguodala.)
As for Snider, the nicest thing I can say is that he is a hockey guy.
jkay- I agree, I’d sacrifice Young in order to fully get out from under Brand’s contract. But only if they were not taking back and long term deals. And I’m a big fan of Young’s future, but not to the point that he can save the franchise if its stuck in neutral the next 4 years.
Paging Elton Brand – You have just been given the keys to revitalizing your career. The up and coming 20-10 Sixers PF of the future, who was rapidly giving EJ the impression that the youngin should be splitting time with our $15-16 million a year man…is gone for 2+ months.
Please get your head out of your ass. Please go watch game tape of yourself at Duke, Chicago, and Clippers through ‘06. Please remember that once upon a time you were the 5th or so best PF in the NBA. Please remember that you used to use brute strength, a dogged workhorse on court personality, and incredible use of positioning and center of gravity to outwork and out manuever players much taller and bigger then you on the mid and low block area of the post.
Re-find your swagger. Earn your !#@$ing contract. Take the 37-38 mpg that are coming your way and make all we hostile fans and overzealous critics shut our mouths and believe in you again. You have your chance, the reigns are in your hand, you are the only true option we have as a big man. Be a bully in the post, scowl some, show some ‘tude and claw your way tooth and nail back to respectability. Elton Brand…please shut us up and salvage some respectability and hope for our short term future.
*taking huge breath, crossing fingers, cursing under my breath*
I used to be a regular on this site. Although I still read the articles and comments regularly, its been about a year since I last posted. I stopped posting when Brand officially became a bust for us. I was the biggest supporter of signing that guy and I am truly disappointed with myself for making such a terrible call. There were many other members that were not sure about Brand at the time. I focused so much energy arguing with them and talking up Brand (when i wasn’t bashing Iguodala) that I was really embarrassed to show my face.
But i am returning in hopes of having a question answered that burns within me. This is the best place to get answers on the Sixers…. here it goes…. can someone tell me why Holliday gets no burn ? why do the Sixers refuse to play young players ? does management think it makes them hungry to ride the bench ? does it build character? or do they believe that young guys need to pay their dues ? Ty Lawson has already made an impact on Denver, a top 5 team . yet Holliday can’t even get on the court for the sixers, a bottom 5 team. just let the guy play. geez. this team sucks.
one other point. this team is officially in a quagmire of stinkiness for the next 5 years. brands contract has saddled us in mediocrity. we live in an endless cycle of the #7 pick
is our starting 5 better that the starting 5 right after the barkley trade ? i think it smelled something like this :
Andrew Lang – C
Tim Perry – SF
Clarence weatherspoon – PF
Jeff Hornacek - SG
Dana Barros – PG
i may be mixing a few different rosters but i think you get the point
Eric Maynor has been a stud.
hahahahahahaha i wish we had the number 7 pick
we always get the number 14,15,16 coz everyone on the team is so dumb that they try their best at the end of the season when everyone is tanking in the hope of getting a number 8 or 7 seed.
And you know what they have to try otherwise if they tanked it with this roster it would be admitting that all this money they invested in the team was for shit. I hate tanking and i think it’s wrong but in this instance what do you do? i know this team is going to suck for the next 4 years minimum and as a fan mediocrity can be disenchanting, atleast if we got a high draft pick and a great player it would give hope. we really should have drafted ty lawson we need a point gaurd now lou williams is a disaster. arghh lol frustration
Silver lining on Speights’ being out: any circumstance that reduces Jordan decision-making is a positive. Sixers have been run so far like a bad hs jv team; can’t expect success with such a full roster shuffle of unpredictable minutes, such uncertainty.
Jumpin, Jordan has been more of a disappointment to me than Elton. A.McKie, I am seeing a little improvement in Elton lately and hope he can get back to last years level at least, his smarts and effort are there and although he will never give us his Philly max, hopefully he can contribute, similar to how B.Wallace is helping the Pistons now. As far as Holliday, I think he gives this team 2 things it needs, defense and ,possibly, 3 pt. shooting and worst case he is at Royal!s level already. But the Sixers, before Jordan, have played their rooks, usually out of necessity.
AaronMcKie4MVP – Long time. Good to have you back.
Short answer on your question regarding Jrue – Eddie Jordan is a moron.
A bit more detail…
Jrue is a rookie and Eddie Jordan doesn’t quite trust him yet and when he does put him in he has a quick hook when he makes a mistake.
Jrue’s biggest asset right now is defense, something Eddie Jordan clearly values much less than offensive output.
Ed Stefanski hasn’t quite gotten to the point where he outright tells Jordan to play the rookie like he did with Cheeks and Thad. If we continue to suck I can see that coming so Stefanski can evaluate his draft choice.
Did I mention Eddie Jordan is clueless?
Time to tank ala 07 Celts